19 Movies you Need to see this Summer, or we aren’t your friends!

Because you rely so much on our opinion and we rely on you relying on our opinion we put together a list of the 19 movies you need to see this summer. Please not, some of these movies are going to get a limited release but they are worth attempting to see if they play anywhere near you. We put these in order of release date, enjoy!

01. Wolverine – May 1st

‘Wolverine’ comes out today and officially starts off the summer blockbuster season. We gave the movie 2 conflicting reviews but you should still definitely go see this one to wash out the bad taste you still have from ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’. If you dont believe me then see what Rick had to say about the whole thing.

02. Star Trek – May 8th

JJ Abrams seems to be the King Midas lately.   Everything the guy touches turns to gold.   From “Alias,” to “Lost,” to ‘Mission: Impossible 3,’ to ‘Cloverfield,’ the guy has hit it out of the park every time he comes out with something.   ‘Star Trek’ doesn’t look to be any different.   In fact, if that last trailer (you know, the one with the epic music cues reminiscent of ‘Dark Knight’) is any indication, this could be Abrams’ best project to date.   The casting is dead-on, particularly Zachary Quinto, who, not only looks like the long-lost son of Leonard Nimoy, the guy is one helluvan actor, too.   Chris Pine looks to fills Shatner’s shoes perfectly, and I can’t wait to see what Eric Bana shows us as the film’s villain.   ‘Star Trek,’ despite the whole prequel/reboot thing might have people groaning in pain, is going to be one great ride this summer.

03. Terminator Salvation – May 22nd

I’m going to be honest with you.   If you would have told me this time last year that the next ‘Terminator’ film, which was to be directed by McG and will wear a PG-13 rating, would be my most anticipated film of Summer, 2009, I probably would have slapped you upside your head.   Well, here we are.   We’re less than a month away from ‘Terminator Salvation’s release, and it is looking to be my most anticipated film of the Summer.   Christian Bale is on board, and you can’t argue with any project he sets himself to (see my write-up for ‘Public Enemies’ for another example).   That latest trailer makes the film look extremely dark, and it doesn’t hurt that that Nine Inch Nails song was a perfect choice.   This film has the strange yet riveting position of being both a sequel and a prequel in the ‘Terminator’ world, and I can’t wait to see the direction the story takes the series in.

04. Brothers Bloom – May 29th

Rian Johnson returns to write and direct another low-key freaking masterpiece, reinvigorating another genre flick that seems to have fallen by the waste side. In ‘Brick’ he brought back the film noir and “modernized” the story. With ‘Brothers Bloom’ Johnson takes the con man genre and explores the sibling relationship with Adrien brody and Mark Ruffalo, along with Rachel Weisz, deliver and incredibly thoughtful, entertaining and well-written movie that is bound to be under-appreciated due to it’s scheduled limited release.

05. Drag Me To Hell – May 29th

Sam Raimi returns to horror. Need I say more? After a long sabbatical from his genre of origin making the Spider-Man franchise, Raimi returns with a tale about an innocent girl just trying to do her job, but who is cursed by an old witch who feels the girl has humiliated her. The story revolves around a terrible curse that gives it’s victim three days to pass it on to another ppor soul or literally be “dragged to Hell”. The movie looks to bring some of Raimi’s trademark style back into play while still creating a fresh and terrifying experience. Whether the movie does well or not, it is bound to be a load of fun and embraced by Raimi fans.

06. Up – May 29th

As ardent supporters of anything Pixar, ‘UP’ is likely to be great. The trailers look good, but I think we’ll find out they actually hide the true essence of what ‘UP’ is going to give us. I imagine Pixar made no mistakes in picking a quality film after the massive success of ‘WALL-E’. The movie follows Carl, a grumpy retiree, who turns his house into a make-shift hot air balloon to set off on an adventure, but inadvertantly takes a young boy with him. Despite the mixed response to the trailers, ‘UP’ is going to both be funny and somehow deliver a great story.

07. The Hangover – June 5th

This movie is set to be one of the funniest movies of the year, toss in the fact that its rated R(Yes!) and a ridiculously funny cast and I think we have a summer sleeper on our hands. The movie is about a group of guys who take their buddy on a wild ride through Vegas for his bachelor party and lose him at some point during their drunken debauchery. Sounds like what happens everytime I hang out with Rick and Roddy, but thats an entirely different movie.

08. Moon – June 12th

‘Moon’ was the absolute best thing I saw in Austin during SXSW, and I cannot wait to see it again.   This is one of those rare films where I want to see it with people who haven’t seen it just to see their reactions to things that happen.   The less known about ‘Moon’ before you see it the better.   Just know this.   Sam Rockwell gives the best performance of his career, and I will be disappointed if his name isn’t even mentioned come awards season next year.   Kevin Spacey’s voice shows up as a computer that displays emoticons, and that, too, is one of the best performances I’ve seen this year.   Director Duncan Jones shows his love for the sci-fi genre, and, despite the film’s less-than-mega-budget, it is an enthralling film.   This isn’t going to get a huge release this Summer, but do yourself a huge favor.   Seek this film out come June 12.   I put my personal guarantee that you will love it.

09. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – June 24th

Hey, more giant robotic aliens from space causing havoc on Earth. Why wouldn’t you want to see more of this. Spielberg’s calling this potentially Michael bay’s best movie ever. As if that doesn’t convince you, we’re introduced to even more classic Decepticon characters, including Ravage and yes, even Devastato and the Fallen character looks like he’ll be badass. Oh yeah, and Megan Fox is in it again! All I really need to say is, go watch this darn trailer and then see the movie. ‘Nuff said!

10. The Hurt Locker – June 26th

After six years of absence, Kathryn Bigelow makes her return to the big screen.   ‘The Hurt Locker’ is an explosive drama that keeps your interest from start to finish.   The performances in the film are incredible.   Jeremy Renner takes one step closer to becoming a major leading man in Hollywood, but it is the smaller roles, the near-cameos, that makes ‘The Hurt Locker’ all the better.   Guy Pearce, David Morse, and Ralph Fiennes all give incredible performances in the few minutes they show up on screen.   Bigelow takes us into the world of bomb squad Iraq, and she has a perfect way of amping the tension up to 11.   ‘The Hurt Locker’ is a film as intriguing as it is suspenseful, and it should not be missed.

11. Public Enemies – July 1st

Remember what was said about Christian Bale in the write-up for ‘Terminator Salvation’?   You can affix that same sense of perfection to Johnny Depp.   Now that I think about it, you can do the same for Michael Mann.   A lot of people were less than friendly to ‘Miami Vice,’ but I thought that film was all kinds of badass cool.   ‘Public Enemies’ takes all three of these incredible pieces of talent and puts them together to make a film about John Dillinger and the 30’s gangster.   I’m sure Depp is going to be incredible as Dillinger, and the trailers for the film show Mann’s camera work doing all kinds of amazing movement around the film’s actors.   ‘Public Enemies’ is a perfect storm of so many things, and, with any luck, it will be a front-runner for this year’s Academy Awards.

12. Bruno – July 10th

‘Borat’ is so 2006!   Word from Austin and SXSW where footage from ‘Bruno’ showed is that it is twice as funny as Sacha Baron Cohen’s last venture into the film world and three times as offensive.   Color me there.   This movie looks hilarious, and it’s great to see the cat’s not entirely out of the bag when it comes to Cohen “interviewing” people.   The fact that ‘Bruno’ initially got an NC-17 rating whereas ‘Borat’ was R the whole way through makes me wonder what the hell Cohen has up his sleeve to push the envelope this time around.   That’s not even mentioning the June 6, 2008 riot that broke out in Fort Smith, Arkansas.   Between ‘Bruno,’ ‘Funny People,’ and ‘The Hangover,’ 2009’s Summer of comedy is looking about as good as 2008’s, and that’s saying a whole long.

13. Humpday – July 10th

‘Humpday’ is a little indie film that showed at Sundance and won everyone over immediately. After screening the first time for press it built a little buzz that no one could ignore, including Magnolia who eventually picked it up. The movie is about 2 best friends who decide they should enter the Amateur Porn festival in Seatle called Hump Fest. The only thing they need to do is figure out a way to have sex with eachother despite being the straight.

I got to see this movie again at SXSW and it plays just as well the second time around, so if this movie opens up anywhere near you, do yourself and everyone you know a favor and get out to see this film.

14. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – July 17th

Each of the Harry Potter films keeps getting darker and more entertaining and that’s a good thing. Ralph Fiennes will return as Voldemort (yay!) and things are getting more and more dangerous for Harry. Whether you’ve read the books or not, you oughtta be there for this one. With only two more to go after this one, do you really want to miss out? Helena Bonham Carter will also be returning in this one, which is cool! Her character is completely nuts, I like that!

15. (500) Days of Summer – July 17th

One of my favorite actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars alongside Zooey Deschanel in the feel good indie comedy of the year. I say its indie even though its is being released by Fox Searchlight simply because it plays more like an indie than any other Rom-Com you are going to see. As the tagline to the movie says, “this is not a love story”.

16. Funny People – July 31st

Judd Apatow is back with what seems to be a more deep take on his regular raunchy satire. Adam Sandler plays a comedian who is dying of cancer and with the help of a young up and coming comedian, Seth Rogen, tried to get his life back in order. We also get a good taste of Aziz Ansari, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, RZA, and Leslie Man..yes please. Oh wait, thats his wife..sorry about that Judd.

17. Inglourious Basterds – August 21st

Quentin Tarantino last gave us ‘Death Proof’ which was met with mixed reviews and a pretty rough outing in theaters. It was a great movie either way you look at it and ‘Inglourious Basterds’ is set to destory everyone in its path. If you give the movie a bad rating he will probably send Eli Roth out to kill you..litterally.

Although its loosely based on the 1978 Enzo G. Castellari’s ‘Inglorious Bastards’, I am certain that Tarantino through his own ridiculous and offensive spin on the entire thing to make me see it multiple times in theaters. Look at how badass David Fincher made Brad Pitt, multiple that by 100 and thats how he will be in this epic WWII shoot

18. H2 – August 28th

Despite what you think about Rob Zombie’s remake of John Carpenter’s horror classic, ‘Halloween,’ ‘H2’ looks to be an intense return for Zombie.   Delving less into the Michael Myers backstory and more into his attempt at finding and killing his sister, Laurie Strode, ‘H2’ looks like it is going to be more horror than child issues.   There have been lots of weirdness coming out of ‘H2’s set.   Among these things are the news that Myers would be sans-mask for a majority of the film and the news that Weird Al Yankovic had signed on for a small part.   We’ll have to see how all of that effects the overall film, but, if that latest trailer is any indication, ‘H2’ looks to be a suspense-filled horror film that will put a smile on the face of all fans of the genre.

19. Black Dynamite – September 4th

Michael Jai White and Scott Sanders have created a movie that is so good it will make you question whether or not it was really made in the 70’s at the height of the blaxploitation era. This movie gives you great martial arts, a love story, sexy porn stars, killing, smack and ust about anything else you could want from a badass “ploitation” film.